Updates and new bugs

After a trip on Thursday to GBU Enterprises, I came home with some new bugs, a creature I have never kept on the Desktop before, and a critter that was happily released right after I snapped it’s photo.

A turtle, obviously. Something I have NEVER kept before.

3 Madagascar hissing beetles! Yep, I am bringing them back to the zoo!!

A Black Widow and her brood. After photos, they were kindly released away from my home and back into the wild!

She had a few hundred in there, I think. Now, they will be ‘enjoyed’ by the folks of Stockton, CA.

A Pink Toed spiderling 1″ whom I am still trying to name. Sid IV, if you will.

A cool shot of the spiderlings backside, and as one of the forum members pointed out, the spiderling resembles a Green Bottle Blue, though I doubt GBU made that big of a mistake. I am quite certain this is an avic.

 

I had a great time interviewing one of the co-owners of GBU. and may even be volunteering there if I can get out of some engagements that will take up most of my time over the next month or so.  In the meantime I will be enjoying these new additions, and hopefully will acquire more to begin doing private bug-shows and maybe getting back into selling again.  Who knows!

IT’S A BOY!!!

Mitzy, my fuzzy Lasiodora parahybana (also acquired from GBU back in February) has turned out to be a boy.  I’m toying with renaming him, but may keep it the same just to throw people off.  Even though he will not (most likely) have the opportunity to reproduce, I will still enjoy watching him grow, and will  be keeping him as a personal pet, along with Serj, my A. chalcodes female.  Serj, who can live for up to 25ish years, will hopefully become a companion for my son when he goes to college.  He’s 1 now, so just 17 years to go!

 

 

 

 

 

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Highlight-Lasidora parahybana

Meet Mitzy, the 1″ Lasidora parahybana that I acquired in February while getting another tarantula sexed.

Mitzy’s species is the 3rd largest in the world, giving her the reputation of being a “dinner plate” tarantula. In an ironic twist, some  species are used for food. (Although I have been told that the taste is comparable to that of a soft shelled crab.  I think I’ll pass on both, thank you!)

The L. parahybana is an aggressive eater, eating pretty much anything you can throw at it.  Mice and lizards are a wild staple, although my preference is to only feed insects- mostly crickets and roaches.  (For tiny spiderlings of other species, I do occasionally buy flightless fruit flies.)  Which ever becomes your preference is fine, but remember that the LP is a new world species, so  if they feel threatened they will not hesitate to flick hairs.  Take caution to keep these hairs from entering your airways and eyes.  If you do wind up with one of the urticating hairs in your skin, be prepared for an itchy rash.  And yes, I do mean ITCHY.  Also, as if I have to tell you, BE VERY CAREFUL of the fangs of this species!  They can be up to 1″ long, and inflict an extremely painful bite. ALWAYS USE CAUTION WHEN FEEDING!!!

Mitzy may look harmless now, but someday she (I hope for a she, at least) will be extremely large and bulky, and will grow quickly into a nice roomie 20 gallon tank.  If  you acquire one as an adult, be sure to have an appropriate house.  This means no large sided tanks because if your critter falls, it can be fatal.  Also, a shallow water dish, and moderate humidity should be provided.  Keep a spray bottle on hand to fill the dish from above your tank lid (if the LP’s size is too intimidating for you to put your hands in the tank) and to keep the humidity up.  As your LP molts, (flips over and plays dead while shedding it’s exoskeleton) it will need extra humidity and a quiet dark environment. Cover the tank, and do not handle your LP for at least a week to be safe.  This goes for all T’s, and although some people say to only wait 3 days, I prefer safe than sorry methods.  Do not feed your critter at all during this period as crickets like to feed on, and possibly kill, molting tarantulas.  (Even after they molt, tarantulas are very soft  and easily killed by an aggressive keeper or hungry food source.)

Provide a hiding spot (hollow logs for BIG LP’s and film containers, or halved flower pots for smaller ones.)

Mitzy is now a 1″ spiderling, but was only 1/8″ when acquired.  These suckers grow FAST so be prepared by reading a lot of books, blogs, and articles.  Also, never be afraid to ask questions to other hobbyists.  I do and always will, as there is so much to learn.  Facebook, arachnoboards and the American Tarantula Society are great places to start.  Many keepers also recommend a book called The Tarantula Keeper’s Guide as THE BEST BOOK on tarantula keeping.

I hope to have shared some information that may help you in your own endeavors as a tarantula keeper.  The Lasidora parahybana is an excellent addition to any household as it is low maintenance, displays well, and makes for great learning for older children and adults alike.  No walking, peeing on the carpet, or tearing up of your furniture.

Find me on Facebook. and use my resources to jump start your hobby today 🙂 OR, just search for your own.  They are out there, and in the hundreds of  thousands across the world.

I have been keeping T’s for 4 years, and probably will for many to come.  I love the hobby, the tarantulas, and seeing children and adults take one home for the first time.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

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• What are the safest and most docile tarantulas you can keep as pets? (petsandcares.com)
• Shopper shocked after finding tarantula on bunch of bananas (telegraph.co.uk)
• To My Fellow Keepers (UPDATE) (sidnata.wordpress.com)
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A few old and new pics

Me and some of my past and present critters 🙂

Osiris (E, cyanognathos)

Nata (G. Rosea)  RIP

Nata

Mitzy (L.P.)

Zero (C. fasciatum)

Serj (A. chalcodes)

Update and 16 Legs, perhaps……

Well folks, I have been a very bad blogger.  So far, no pictures, and no LS report for the newly molted.  Things have been pretty crazy around the desktop, but rest assured, the goodies are coming.

MOLT UPDATE:

Annabel Lee Molted last Sunday, and is getting bigger by the minute!  According to my note card records, she was a stunning 1/2″ after her last molt, which leads me to believe that she is around 3/4″ now!

Raven, Alee’s litter mate, should also be molting soon.  According to the same records, she molted 6 days after Alee last time.  I am curious to see if they will remain on schedule.

Additions Update:

Through the magick of Facebook, I have had the opportunity to meet and greet some of you, and many other enthusiasts from around the globe.  One of whom has just successfully bred a Poecilotheria Subfuscia!!  (Well…more like bred, egg sat, hatched, egged with legged, and over-saw molts into 2nd instar…) He has offered to send me one of these adorable little critters, and even managed to wrangle me an Ephebopus cyanathogos! (Blue Fang!!!!!!!) I am flattered by the gesture, and thank *you* for the idea!!

I hope to one day be in a position that allows me to also send out 8-legged packages to random people across the US.

Speaking of positions, an opportunity to move locations has come our way, and I must say that I am excited to jump on it!  Currently, the desktop and I reside (with my husband) in a small apartment in Grants Pass, Oregon that is no longer meeting our needs.

Within the next month or 2 I expect us all to be starting fresh with a new apartment, and new jobs in our closest big city.  This will not only grant me the opportunity to possibly meet other hobbyists, but it will also allow me more freedom to begin breeding projects as room and time expand!

One of the many perks of moving will also place me by SOU, where I hope to study biology, and pass (knowledge) along to 5th and 6th graders as a teacher.  It took a high school teacher to inspire my love of reptiles and crawley things, and I want to bring the same joys to a kid like me…

(Thank you Ms. Bodily, you are one of my select heros.)

In addition to this, I am getting out of the retail game while I prepare to go back to school, so hours will once again change, but opportunities will grow for all of us on and around the desktop of Sid and Nata.

Let’s all not forget the upcoming NaNoWriMo event that starts in exactly 32 days!  I will be taking on the task of 50,000 words by the end of November that may actually look loosely like a story that some may call a novel…..  I am in research mode for this, and have a few ideas that may prove fruitful with a bit of TLC and lots of coffee!  If you are in the mood to race with thousands of people from around the world,come join in at NaNoWriMo.org!!  Look for me under the user name “Sidnata” and we can be writing buddies 🙂

Keep baring with me, and as soon as I get it together, the website and FB pages will be published for the world to see!  Wish us luck!!

So many Molts!

EEEEK!  Every time I peek into a jar or keeper, it appears that someone is molting.  I thought that molting had to do with species….unless they were all hatched around the same time, and I just happened to get the bunch that happen to be on the same schedule….hmmmm…..  is it possible?

Anyway, this morning, Zero (C. fasciatum) is flipped over. Yesterday it was Athene (N. Chromatus) the day before that it was Raven (L. parahybana) then the day before that it was Serj (A. chalcodes.)

Last week it was Flora (N. coloratvillosus) and the week before that it was Isis (B. Smithi.)

That equals half my collection.

Tarantulas are funny, yet seemingly scheduled creatures. I will post an updated Molt Date/New Leg Span/Picture blog on Sunday if I can.  Might as well do them all at once.

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Another Day, another 1/4″.

Today is Wednesday, which in my world is feeding day (As is Saturday and sometimes Sunday.) All the little spiderlings are brought down to the floor in their jars, deli cups, and now a kritter keeper.  I stack my 2 small roach keepers, and place an empty potato salad cup on top.  I bring down all my tools: Metal and plastic tweezers, empty film container, paint brush, flash light etc.

One by one, each tiny deli cup (2 L. parahybana slings and 1 B. boehmei sling) is placed in the larger potato salad cup so that when I open the lid for feeding, the spiderlings can’t escape far if they get out. I then retrieve a small cricket from the small cricket tank, and put it in the film container.   I gently crack open each lid (one at a time) and lay it on top of its container.  I then grab the isolated cricket with the tweezers, and plop it into the opened spiderling deli cup.

Tonight I found that one of my L. parahybana had molted.  It was Raven, and I have been expecting this for about 2 weeks now.  FINALLY!!

She has also grown from a tiny 1/8″ to a monstrous 1/4″!!  WHOOOO!!

As for the rest of the feeding process, the other spiderlings are in jars so I am able to keep their lids off during feeding.  Serj (A. chalcodes) looks a lot like my Nhandu sp. since yesterdays molt, but I am fairly certain that she will get her Arizona blond markings soon enough.

Tank (Aphonopelma sp.) has not been eating, so I expect his gummy physique to molt out as well in the next week or 2.

So, tonight marked the 3rd molt of September, and everyone was fed pretty well.  Sid (my A. avicularia) tried to climb out of his tank while I grabbed a cricket!  It was pretty cool watching those little pink toes come up over the edge!  I managed to toss him a cricket, which appeared to land right in his fangs. Way to fetch Sid!!  He’s a good boy 🙂

I even updated everyone’s note cards with acquisition dates, molt dates and LS”.  All 12 have cards now, and I am exhausted.  Luckily for me though, not everyone needed to be fed.  Besides the newly molted, I busted Isis with a giant B. dubia roach in her mouth last night.  It was one of the left overs that lives in her soil from my deceased colony. I have a few left in some of the jars, and even catch them from time to time eating the remains of crickets not consumed by the spiderlings.  They must be eating well because this sucker was bigger than the snacker herself!!  (Her abdomen at least) and I know it wasn’t that big when I put it in there several months ago!

Feeding day was a success, and even though I am tired from a long day at work, and then an hour of feeding/record keeping/blogging, I am happy to finally be getting the rhythm of this invertebrate keeping down.  Spider checks in the morning, and in the evening, with Giant Cockroach checks at some point after work.

I am now ready for bed.

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Pictures and Measurements!

I got a couple of Serj and Tank, as well as Isis and Annabel Lee a few days after their molts.  I measured both, and here are the results:

Annabel Lee:

Old LS- 1/8″ New LS-1/2″

Isis:

Old LS-3/4″ New LS- 1 1/4″ (WHOO!!)

I held Isis (Brachypelma smithi) for the first time about 4 days after her molt, when she was out and about looking for food.  Though I didn’t get any of her in my hand, I did get a few of her last night!

Isis 8.29.10

Here is Isis eating a cricket!

Alee- Lasidora parahybana- (as compared to a Cheerio..since I couldn’t find a dime):

Alee 8.29

Alee on the side (By a Cheerio)

Alee by a meal

Here is are a couple of Serj (Aphonopelma chalcodes):

Serj on the Jar

Serj 8.29 With Notecard

Tank (Aphonopelma sp.):

Tank 8.29

Tank and the Cheerio

Frank Zappa and the Girl who loved Noodles

Frank Zappa was a loud, charismatic and over the top musician who put the song “Catholic Girls” in my head for years.  Frank Zappa is also a flea bitten clump of fur that is currently licking unmentionable parts of his anatomy at my feet.  It should be obvious to you that the lyrical genius behind the breath taking lyrics “Why does it Hurt When I pee?” is NOT the subject of this blog, and the brown and black striped Fancy Feast machine is.

Frank

Frank

Frank Zappa, aka Frankie aka Frank (pronounced “Fronk”) is a pain in my ass, and while he is currently plotting my undoing, I am sitting here wondering how high the “Kitty Copter” could launch him. We have come to an understanding over the past 2 years that I am the human around here, and he is to obey my every command-once he releases my ankle in his bear hug.

This handsome boy, destined to become a thorn in my sock, started out in a less that desirable way. He came to me in a box, and from the looks of it, from a person who wanted to just get rid of the kitten. (But used the story of “finding this kitten on the side of the road.” to tug at my heart strings a bit.)

I was living alone in the western side of Los Angeles, and as the manager of a pet supply store, I knew that having a little kitty around was exactly what I had wanted.  Long story short, this was my first apartment without any traces of man or beast living along side of me.  I was a free woman with just a job, and internet connection, and not a TV or social life in sight.  Then came this kitty in a box, and my world suddenly became about it.

Funny thing about working at an animal supply store, is that one tends to not question when people tell you the sex of their pets.  The thought was no different as I blindly took the man’s word that this little kitten was a she.  My staff at the time put in suggestions for names immediately (as kitty spent my shift in the office) and the name Stella came about.  (after the raw diet we promoted for animals.)

Stella went home that night with a purple collar, heart shaped tag, and all the kitty necessities.

Over the next few weeks, she seemed sweet until one day she discovered how to knock over a coffee cup, thus ending my cream colored carpet for good.

After the first triumph, it was over for any cup after that, until Stella graduated to change, plants, and anything else sitting on a surface.

Baaad Kitty Stella!!

OOPS!- Remember the guy who gave me this girl kitty?  I guess he (and I) were too stupid to check under the skirt of this little kitty.  Stella, the vet announced, is a boy!

Damn!

I again had to choose a name for this heathen in fur, and my boyfriend came up with the name Frank, after the legend, and after the moments we had shared listening to the pee song (long ago) in his car at the park.  Frank Zappa it is.

About a year later, I flew Frank to Oregon where he has since become an outdoor kitty (and indoor, and in my bed, and on my chair, and on my ankle…) He has bonded well with my guy, and I am under the distinct impression that Frank has finally decided to get rid of me. Right before moving day, the sweet little kitty took a massive chunk out of my arm, actually causing nerve damage.  I guess he wanted to play…or kill me. $100.00 later for the doctor, and another $100 to the airline (plus the cost of my ticket) and we boarded the plane to Oregon.  I got Coach, Frank got cargo.  PFFFFFTTTHHHHHHHH!!!!

Frank fights with me over the lap of my guy, and even tries to steal my food (buttered noodles, cheese, ANYTHING.)  I would steal his, but Fancy Feast is just NOT my cup of tea- which too gets knocked over by the cat once named Stella.

Heeere kitty kitty…I got a present for youuuuu!!

It seems that Mr. “Fronk” is not a fan of the spray bottle I use to add humidity to the spider tanks.  Mr “Fronk” is also not a fan of the spiders, as he sits and plots away at how to knock them off the surface once used as just a desktop.  Like the change that went flying off my tables in LA, 1..2…3..plop plop plop, I could see the mini deli cups hitting the floor, rattling the tarantulas that will soon become bigger than the flea bag himself.

Oh, how I can’t wait to see the day 😀

Frank and I simply manage, and as the war progresses, I will keep you up to date.

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Alee Molt Pics!

As stated earlier, Annabel Lee molted this morning!  She looks to be about 1/4″, but I can’t quite measure her yet. In the first photo, her molt is sitting on top of the dime.

Annabel Lee's 8.20.10 Molt

Alee Molt 8.20.10

Molting!

Annabel Lee is Molting!  She is one of my tiny L. parahybanas, and it looks like she is just about done with the process.  I recorded her and her sister at about 1/8″, but Alee was just a bit tinier than that!

When I get home from work, I will do my best to post pics!

I love days like this 🙂